Shor tTakes Trends, Views and AnalysisCyber Security and Strategy

Waterfall: There’s a much higher level of
awareness and I think it’s playing out in the
report. I think we’re seeing an environment
where you’ve got a rapidly increasing level of
awareness and consumers are getting far more
interested in how companies are handling it.

Consulting: What are the big consultingopportunities around cybersecurity?

Waterfall: If you look at it more from theprivacy side of things you’re seeing some newtechnologies arriving, things like algorithms,artificial intelligence, and facial recognition,which are only going to make this trustdynamic more accentuated. I think in the spaceof consumer trust around privacy and how isdata protected and used in a responsible way bycompanies there’s going to be a much greaterneed for companies to be more transparentand really think about how they deal with thisnew dynamic. We’re finding there’s a lot ofopportunity in the space around privacy andoften it’s driven by regulation at the moment.More and more companies are realizing theyneed to put in place the processes to helpbe more transparent, to help give customersmore control of their data. I think more andmore companies will realize this is more ofa transformation to get them ready for what’scoming. That’s driving a lot of our businessand we’re shifting the conversation to be lessabout regulation and more about readiness forbeing able to build these trust relationshipswith customers.

Consulting:What industries are the mostvulnerable to breaches of private data?

Waterfall: The most obvious industries that
have always had to invest a lot of money
in private security are the big banks and
technology companies. It’s quite interesting
how Petya, the malware that was out there
some months ago, has quietly changed the
game. If you look at the companies that got
hit by Petya, a number of those companies are
in that category that might have said we’re not
a bank, we’re not a tech company, we don’t
need to invest in this at a high level. When
you look at a number of them that had their
entire IT infrastructure wiped out and a lot of
the write-offs you see were companies that
couldn’t ship goods for sometimes months
on end, you start to get into a world where
virtually every industry is vulnerable, and it
comes down to resilience of supply chain, etc.
from that perspective. I think we’re seeing a
wake-up call across all sectors.

Grant Waterfall

Recent hacks, breaches and malware attacks around the globe have forced companies
to re-examine their methods of safeguarding consumer data. And consumers are
paying attention. PwC’s recent Consumer Intelligence Series: Protect.me report on
consumer attitudes of the perils of cyberspace shows that 92 percent of those surveyed
think cybersecurity should be at the forefront of any company’s strategy. We sat down
with Grant Waterfall, PwC’s U.S. Cybersecurity & Privacy Deputy Lead to talk about
the target-rich environment in today’s data economy, consumer attitudes, and how
companies are shifting their thinking.